1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to gaming devices and in particular to candle devices that provide communication capabilities and enhanced gaming functions on a gaming machine.
2. Description of the Related Art
Casinos derive most of their revenue from gaming machines such as mechanical and video slots and table games such as poker and twenty-one. Three important factors to casino operators related to providing these games are: 1) minimizing operating costs, 2) responding to the desires of players, their customers, which are constantly shifting and 3) providing a secure and honest gaming experience. Minimizing operating costs involves factors, such as minimizing the labor and maintenance costs associated with providing a game at a gaming machine or at a table. Responding to the desires of players involves factors, such as changing games on a gaming machine, providing new types of games, rearranging a layout and distribution of gaming machines and/or table games on a casino floor and providing player incentives via casino-sponsored loyalty programs. Finally, providing a secure and honest gaming experience involves such factors as providing tamper-proof gaming software and secure gaming platforms that meet regulatory requirements and providing security monitoring systems that help deter theft and other potential crimes.
The factors described above are reflected in the history of technology development associated with the gaming industry. For example, casino monitoring systems were introduced to minimize costs associated with gathering accounting data from gaming machines. Until the advent of casino monitoring systems the accounting of coin-in, coin-out, and other data associated with each machine was done manually. The introduction of casino monitoring systems provided the means for a casino operator to gather this data electronically using a communication network. This reduced the cost for the casino by reducing the expense of the manual data gathering associated with each gaming machine.
Another example of a technological advance that reduced operating costs is a Ticket-in, Ticket-out (TITO) system or cashless system. A TITO equipped gaming machine prints out a bar-coded slip of paper (ticket), which can then either be redeemed for cash, or inserted for play into other TITO equipped gaming machines. The machines utilize a barcode scanner built into the bill validator on the machine to accept and evaluate the ticket and a ticket printer to print the ticket. A network interface communicates with the TITO gaming system to track these tickets. This advance reduced labor costs associated with adding, removing, transporting and counting coins as well as damage to gaming machines, such as electrical shorts, resulting from coin dust. Coin dust also turned player's hand black which was undesirable.
A few examples of technological advances related to responding to player desires is the advent of link progressive games, wide area progressive games and player tracking systems. Link progressive gaming machines are linked together by a network. The progressive jackpot is funded by taking a percentage of all the money played into each of the linked gaming machines as a group. The jackpot continues to grow until a player wins this jackpot by a randomly selected combination of jackpot symbols. Typically, gaming machines in a linked progressive reside at one location, such as a single casino. The WAP system is similar to the link progressive, but the network allows multiple machines in multiple locations to communicate to a common server. WAP systems allow jackpots to grow to potentially large amounts due to the large number of players playing these games statewide or in multiple locations. For example, WAP jackpots can range in value from hundreds of thousands of dollars to millions of dollars. Player's tend to like link progressive games and WAP games because of the potential for larger jackpots that are afforded by these systems.
Player tracking systems allow a casino to reward players based on their assessed value to a casino. These rewards, desirable by players, have been found to increase player loyalty including repeat business by rewarded customers. Before the use of the player tracking system, casino operators used a manual method requiring casino employees to recognize returning and highly valuable players. The casino floor managers would write down the coin-in and play information and would reward those players with high play with a free room, food, etc. The player-tracking system provides the means of tracking this information electronically using a network. A casino player enrolling receives player card which has magnetic or punched ID number. The player inserts the card into a card reader provided on each machine. Once the card is inserted and read, the gaming machine automatically sends the ID information and all play data associated with the player to a server, which allows a player's value to be quickly assessed and rewards for the player to be easily determined.
To provide a secure gaming experience, gaming machines and table games include security measures, such as locked cabinets for securing resources that may be targets of theft or tampering, such as deposited money or gaming software. Further, external security systems, such as camera systems are provided for monitoring employee and player behavior including detecting illegal actions. To ensure an honest gaming experience, gaming machines tend to be highly regulated. For instance, gaming software and hardware associated with determining an outcome of game and dispensing money from a gaming machine can undergo a regulatory approval process that takes up to a year before the gaming software or hardware can be utilized in the field, such as on a casino floor. Further, after deployment, regulator approved gaming software and hardware are secured and monitored in a gaming device such that changes or modifications are readily detectable.
The technological advances, described above, each viewed in isolation, have contributed to minimizing operating costs, responding to the desires of players and providing a secure and honest gaming experience. However, these advances viewed as a whole have also created problems. Currently, gaming machines on a casino floor can be connected to many different and separately maintained networks. For instance, a single gaming machine on a casino floor, which may include thousands of gaming machines, can be connected via wired connections to separate WAP, player tracking, link progressive and TITO networks. Maintaining many different networks and their associated infrastructure can be quite costly. Further, reconfiguring the network, such as to change the layout of the casino floor to respond to shifting player desires, can also be very time consuming and labor intensive.
As a result of imposed security and regulatory requirements, it is fairly difficult to tamper with gaming machines in a way that would cheat a player. Thus, the player can be ensured of an honest gaming experience. However, the long lead times associated with obtaining necessary regulatory approvals and the technologies that make altering or tampering with gaming software difficult also make it difficult and cost prohibitive to change the functionality of a gaming machine via changing the regulated game software. Thus, in view of the above, apparatus and method are desired that reduce the cost, time and effort associated with an altering an existing gaming environment and introducing new gaming features into the gaming environment.